The Art and Science of Interoception

Interoception, described as the sixth sense, is our ability to sense and feel our internal landscape, including aspects like breath, tension, moods, and emotions. Similar to training your flavor palate as a chef, you can train your interoceptive palate to become more aware of internal sensations. By doing so, you increase your ability to notice ear... See more

Interoception deeply influences both mental and physical health. Research suggests that a higher degree of interoceptive awareness has been linked to enhanced mental health, while lower interoceptive awareness is associated with several mental disorders. For instance, people suffering from depression may have a reduced ability to perceive bodily si... See more

We will be moving into deeper connection to our intuitive selves, developing full-body awareness. The fancy word for this is interoception. When we cultivate this capacity, we will have felt sense, which is a bodily knowing inside of us that allows access to all the parts of us that have experienced warmth and goodness (our Inner Nurturers), those

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Decades later, scientists are starting to unravel how our wet, spongy, slippery organs talk to the brain and how the brain talks back. That two-way communication, known as interoception, encompasses a complex, bodywide system of nerves and hormones. Much recent exploration has focused on the vagus nerve: a massive, meandering network of more than 1... See more

In the body, this sensory network has a name—interoception—and a location—the brain, stretching from the cerebral cortex to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) and down into the insula. The interoceptive system provides an overview of the homeostatic function of the entire body, a type of status update on how your body i

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